Your Right to Know

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department confirmed yesterday that it is investigating the loss of
Internal Revenue Service emails being sought by congressional Republicans in an inquiry into tax
scrutiny of conservative political groups.

In written testimony to be delivered to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee,
Deputy Attorney General James Cole said the probe “includes investigating the circumstances of the
lost emails” from the computer of retired IRS official Lois Lerner.

Republican lawmakers have asserted that Lerner, who had headed the IRS unit that oversaw
tax-exempt organizations, was trying to hide information from Congress.

Last month, the IRS acknowledged losing some of Lerner’s emails to a computer hard-drive
failure, an incident that has rekindled Republican outrage in the long-running controversy over IRS
scrutiny of conservative political groups.

A Justice Department official said that so far the probe has not been classified as a search for
criminal activity.

Cole did not provide any specifics.

“I do pledge to you that when our investigation is completed, we will provide Congress with
detailed information about the facts we uncovered and the conclusions we reached in this matter,”
he said in his testimony, which is expected to be delivered to the panel today.